


Despite Evidence to the Contrary

by scatter



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Gen, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-31
Updated: 2014-05-31
Packaged: 2018-01-27 16:47:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1717637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scatter/pseuds/scatter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chie hadn't expected to start the second day of the camping trip off by having an awkward conversation with Souji (or to be stuck doing dishes).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Despite Evidence to the Contrary

Chie was starting to think that maybe they'd interrupted something when they'd barged into Souji and Yosuke's tent. She asked as much while she worked on the barricade that would split the tent in half but all she got was a clueless look from Yosuke.

"Huh? Like what?"

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking." She pushed one of the backpacks closer to him, making more room on her side. Behind her, Yukiko worked to spread out their sleeping bags without putting them too close to the slope they were near. Chie was starting to miss her old tent; even with Hanako's snoring, at least the floor had been level. "Were you talking about something private or...?"

"No," Souji replied, one of the few things he'd said since they'd arrived. Chie was used to him not talking - the four of them could have an entire conversation where he only spoke up once or twice - but he was being quiet even by his standards, and while she couldn't see him clearly with the lantern turned off, the air around him was almost sullen. If he'd been anyone else, she would have said he was moping. "We were about to go to sleep actually."

It sounded believable enough, but Yosuke abandoned the barricade and turned to him. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." Souji continued to fix his and Yosuke's sleeping bags. He had a harder time of it then Yukiko since one corner of the tent had been placed over a big rock, making that space unusable. Chie pulled a bag back, giving them another inch or so of room. "Scoot over, I need to spread this out."

"Don't give me that, all of the sudden you're in a bad mood."

Oh good, that meant Chie hadn't been imagining things. She squinted, trying to get a better look at his face, but even if she'd been able to see him she wasn't sure it would have helped. Souji was as expressive as a bowl of noodle broth most of the time, and when he wanted to keep a secret it was impossible to know what he was thinking.

Souji let the bedding fall out of his hands and sat back on his heels. "Who wouldn't be? We spent the entire day crawling over a mountain and picking up trash, dinner tasted like biohazard waste--"

"Hey!" Chie might not have tasted their food but it couldn't have been as bad as they kept saying. Souji went on as if he hadn't heard her.

"--and then when things were finally going well, you and Kanji got into an argument. To top it all off, I won't even get a good night's sleep because our tent is in the worst possible spot."

"Jeez," Yosuke said, "you are feeling bitchy, aren't you?"

Souji pushed him against the side of the tent.

"Hey, hey, don't do that, I'm hitting the rock!"

Souji pushed him again. "Don't yell, or we'll get caught."

"Then don't push me!"

Yukiko, who had been managing so far to ignore all of them, finally gave up on arranging their sleeping bags and crawled into one. "This is awful," she murmured glumly. "I feel like if I roll, I'll go right down the hill."

Flat on his back from where Souji had shoved him over, Yosuke agreed. "I said the same thing earlier. I think King Moron put us here just to screw us over, that asshole."

"You're both exaggerating," Souji said, making one last adjustment to their sleeping bags. "Unless you're heavy enough to bring the whole tent with you, I think you're safe."

Yukiko sat up. "Are you implying I'm fat?"

"What? No."

"Because I'll have you know I've been watching my weight."

"It's paying off," Yosuke said. "You look great, and you'd probably be amazing in a bathing su--ouch!"

Chie could just make out Souji pulling his hand away from Yosuke's side. He must have pinched him. Good. If he hadn't, Chie would have done it. "That's enough," he said. "Be quiet and go to sleep."

Yosuke groaned miserably, not bothering to move. "Did you have to do that so hard? And you're putting me next to the rock? That's it, this trip sucks. I'm officially considering my second year of high school a bust."

He was only whining as usual, the way he always did when things didn't go his way, but Souji gave in. Chie didn't see why. Maybe he thought it was too much trouble to argue. "You can take the spot near the bags. I'll have this side."

"Seriously?" Proving he wasn't entirely selfish, Yosuke hesitated. "No, I can't do that to you."

"I'll be fine, it's only one night. Just don't try anything stupid, like sneaking over to the other side. If you do, I'm not going to help you."

To make sure he got the point, Chie waved a fist at him in warning. Yosuke nodded. "Got it."

It wasn't too bad, Chie decided as they all settled down. She would have liked more room to spread out but the ground where she laid was more or less level and even when she let Yukiko come closer, to get her away the slope, that wasn't anything new. More than once when they were younger, they'd slept in the same bed during sleepovers. Honestly, she was more worried about Yosuke. "You're not going to start complaining, are you, Yosuke?"

"About what?"

"About having to sleep next to Souji-kun." From what she'd seen, he'd been forced to put their sleeping bags pretty close to each other. "I don't want to listening to you freaking out all night."

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "Why would I freak out about that?"

"Because..." She could have listed half a dozen reasons but if he really wasn't going to complain it was probably best not to get him started. "Nevermind."

He laughed. "Did you hear her, partner?"

"I heard." Souji didn't sound as amused. "Now stop moving."

"You should be thanking me, I'm trying to give you more room." There were a few more rustles as he made himself comfortable and then things quieted down. Chie was starting to nod off when he asked, "So are you two cuddling over there or--ow, ow, ow! Don't touch there!"

Chie pulled the sleeping bag over her head and tried to block them out.

The next morning got off to a good start. Not only did Chie and Yukiko manage to sneak to their tent and get Kanji back where he belonged without being discovered by either him or the teachers, but they had a real, teacher-provided breakfast. After suffering through the night on an empty stomach, it tasted so good that she almost cried. She almost cried again, this time out of frustration, when one of their teachers told them they were being put on dishwashing duty for failing to put their cooking supplies away the night before.

"What?!" Yosuke yelled, so aggravated that he didn't notice Souji steal a bite of his food. "That's totally unfair!"

"Now, now, Hana-chan, there's no need to raise your voice." When their teacher talked, his little hand puppet moved its mouth as well, and Chie wasn't sure if she was supposed to pay attention to him or it. She settled for frowning at the ground. "Cleaning up after yourself is a basic part of camping life. I might be wiling to forgive you city boys for making this mistake, but you girls should know better, this isn't your first time on the trip. Why, think of all the terrible things that could have happened. What would you have done if you'd attracted a bear?"

"There's only one bear in Inaba and even he wouldn't have touched that slop," Yosuke said.

"One bear? You really are from the city, aren't you? While your classmates are breaking down their tents, it'll be your task to scrub every plate, pot, and bowl until they're sparkling clean. Think of it as one more way you can make your little town beautiful, and as a bonus, if you're done before we leave, you can join your classmates and spend the rest of your time enjoying the scenery." He led them over to the outdoor washing station, which was made up of a few rows of long sinks built under a wooden canopy. Some tables had been set up near them, piled high with the dishes that had been used to make dinner.

Kanji, who had joined them for breakfast and trailed behind them snacking, grunted. "Tough luck, Yosuke-senpai."

Their teacher turned his hand puppet on him. "Don't think you're getting out of this either. You've been remarkably well-behaved on this trip and to make sure it stays this way, you'll be helping them out. As your upperclassmen, it'll be their job to keep an eye on you."

"Hey, that's not fair," Chie protested. "Kanji-kun doesn't deserved to be punished."

Kanji was remarkable undisturbed by this announcement. "Nah, it's fine, Chie-senpai. I'd rather scrub dishes with you guys then hang out with a bunch of lame first-years anyway."

"I'm glad you see it that way," their teacher said before assigning him to work with Yosuke at one of the stations. Chie was put a few rows away with Yukiko and Souji, who was staring at the puppet suspiciously. "You'll be watched by - where did he go...? Ah, there he is. Your homeroom teacher Morooka-san will be watching you."

Of course. Because the day was already going so great.

Morooka looked terrible. How he managed to stay on his feet was a mystery, and even Souji raised his eyebrows when he saw him. Chie had to resist the urge to hold a hand up to her nose; Morooka smelled like he'd spent the night marinating in booze. Next to her, Yukiko made a disgusted noise. "Alright, listen up, you asswipes. I'm not a babysitter and I'm not about to sit here watching you losers do more manual labor than you've probably done in the rest of your pathetic lives. So I'm leaving but while I'm gone I don't want to hear a single peep out of any of you, and if anyone leaves before these dishes are clean, I'll expel you so fast your heads'll spin."

Every other word was punctuated by a gross, wet noise, like he was fighting the urge to throw up, and by the time he finished, Chie was more than a little nauseous herself.

Yosuke tsked dismissively. "What a hardass. How's he gonna hear us if he's not around?" Despite his big attitude, he didn't speak until Morooka had stumbled away and out of sight.

"Tell me about it," Kanji said. "Man, I hate teachers like that, think they run the damn world."

"Aren't they the worst?" They fell into a conversation about the evils of teachers, how bad they had it, and how washing dishes was one of the worst punishments ever devised.

Souji watched them while he readied the supplies they'd been given. "They get along surprisingly well when they want to, don't they? It would have been nice if they'd done that last night. It doesn't look like they plan to get much work done, though. Maybe I should go over there and supervise."

"There's no need," Yukiko said, grabbing a scrub brush and eyeing it dubiously. Chie wondered if she'd ever held one before. "I'd rather not have this entire trip go to waste. I'll take care of them."

Seeing Souji stare after her unconvinced as she walked away, Chie said, "You don't have to worry about Yukiko, she's used to managing the maids around at the inn. I know it's not the same thing but some of those women are twice her age. Those two will be no problem. Plus, I think she wants the chance to yell at someone." Despite her best efforts to give Yukiko plenty of room and the lack of Hanako's relentless snoring, neither of them had slept very well, and Yukiko had woken up grumpy. Being able to take her frustration out on someone might put her in a better mood.

"If that's true then I'll have to be extra careful around her today." Souji rolled up his sleeves. "Might as well get this over with. I wash, you'll dry?"

"That's fine with me." Some of the dishes still had bits of food on them and Chie didn't want to get any closer to that then she had to. Souji set to work, dunking the first plate in the soapy water and scrubbing at it, and with nothing to do until he finished Chie watched him. "You know, it's kind of funny seeing you do this."

Souji's pace didn't falter. "Is it?"

"Yeah. Washing dishes is so...normal? I'm not saying you're not normal or anything but you, well, you did stick your head in a TV. How do you know how to do this, anyway? I thought everyone had a dishwasher in the city." Most kids their age would have complained a lot more, too, and abruptly noticing the lack of it, she checked on Kanji and Yosuke. They were elbow deep in suds and dirty dishes, and while neither of them looked happy, Yukiko's stern expression kept them from grumbling.

"Some apartments do," Souji said. "We did, but most of the time it was easier to just clean everything by hand. I've been helping Nanako with the housework, too, so I've had lots of practice."

"Wow, you really are a great big bro, aren't you? I wish I had someone to share my chores with."

Souji passed her the plate. "What about you, do you do this at home?"

"Yeah, every night after dinner. My parents keep talking about buying a dishwater but they're so expensive and I can't even get a decent discount through Yosuke..." She went on like this for a while, talking and drying, while Souji nodded and made the occasional interested noise. Eventually, she realized that no one besides Yukiko could possibly care so much about her chores. "Are you actually listening to this?"

"I'm drifting in and out," Souji admitted.

"Jeez, don't let me keep going like that. It's embarrassing." Since she wasn't nearly as comfortable as standing around in silence as Souji was, she tried to find some new topic that wouldn't bored them both to death. "I'm glad you're in a better mood today. It'd be a lot more awkward working with you if you were still upset."

"I was a little sour last night, wasn't I?"

"Yeah, a bit." There was no use lying if he admitted to it. "I know it must have sucked, having Yukiko and me show up the way we did, but we couldn't help it. Even before Kanji ran in and passed out, we were stuck with Hanako and, oh man, the way she snored, I thought Yukiko was going to do something stupid to shut her up. We really would have been expelled then."

Souji hummed distractedly, his hands slowing down as he scrubbed at a big pot. "I should apologize for that."

"For what?"

"For being upset with you two. It's not like anything else went right yesterday, and I know you and Yukiko weren't deliberately trying to interrupt us, but it still bothered me. I shouldn't have been so short with you."

"So you were in the middle of something!" She'd known there'd been something going on before they got there.

"No." Souji sighed. "I would have liked to have been but after what happened with Kanji, the timing was probably bad."

Chie frowned. "I don't get it."

He looked her over, as if wondering how much he should say, and it was hard to resist squirming under his gaze. They might have sat next to each other during class and worked together to save Yukiko and Kanji, but they weren't exactly close. To make it worse, Souji had a way of looking at people like he could see right into their heads, reminding her uncomfortably that he'd seen her worst parts when she'd faced her Shadow. Finally, he turned his attention back to his pot. "Before Kanji came in," he said slowly, "there was no one in the tent except Yosuke and me."

"Because the other guys called in sick, right? What's that have to do with anything?"

He cast a lingering look at Yosuke, who had taken to silently bickering with Kanji behind Yukiko's back. "And if things had stayed that way, I was hoping to make the most of the situation."

What was that supposed to mean? Chie chewed her lip as she turned his words over in her head, staring at Yosuke for some kind of clue, but it took another glance at Souji and the way he continued to stare at Yosuke before she made the connection. She'd seen boys stare at Yukiko that way too many times for her not to recognize it. "Wait. Does that mean that you're..." She couldn't figure out how to finish the sentence but Souji picked up on the meaning. He nodded, and Chie's surprise got the better of her. "With Yosuke?!"

Her shout caught the attention of the others. Yosuke frowned at her. "What are you talking about over there?"

"Nothing!" Her voice was too high, and she had the horrible feeling she was blushing. To make it worse, Souji didn't appear affected at all. His composure only made her more flustered, and she snapped, "Get back to work!"

"Get back to work yourself. You're the one goofing off and yelling about nothing." Yosuke flicked water at her. It fell short by several feet but the gesture annoyed her.

Before they could start arguing, Souji spoke up. "How about we all get back to work? We're almost done."

Yosuke gestured to a pile of wet dishes next to Yukiko. He and Kanji had made some good progress washing but Yukiko, who'd had maids to take care of the housework her whole life, hadn't caught the hang of it and was lagging behind. "In what universe is this 'almost done'?"

"Look at it this way," Souji said, "we're closer to being finished than we were five minutes ago, and in five more minutes we'll be closer still."

"You sound like a monk," Yosuke said, but under Souji's watchful eye he gave a huff and started up again.

Chie did the same, wiping furiously at the dish she held so she had an excuse not to look at Souji. She hoped he didn't notice how embarrassed she was by her outburst, or at least not mention it, but the longer he went without saying anything at all, the tenser she got. She nearly jumped out of her skin when he tapped her shoulder.

"I think you're done with that."

"Right! Just making sure it's dry." How long had she been drying the same plate? She set the dish down too hard and it clattered noisily against the rest of the stack.

"Are you okay?" Souji asked, eyeing her consideringly. "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything."

Souji rarely shared anything about himself, somehow always managing to turn the conversation around so they were talking about themselves instead. Now that he'd actually done it, the last thing she wanted was for him to feel like he'd made a mistake. "N-no, it's fine, I'm fine! I'm glad you told me. It just caught me off-guard, that's all. So give me a minute?"

He nodded and went back to chipping away at their pile of dishes. At the pace they were going, they might actually be able to enjoy some of the trip before they went back home. "Take all the time you need."

They worked faster when they weren't talking, and the mindless task gave Chie time to get over her initial surprise. It wasn't as if Souji liking boys bothered her. Kanji'd said he'd considered the same thing not too long ago, and for all she knew he still did, and she liked to think she'd taken that pretty well. Come to think of it, this explained why Souji'd never shown any interest in Yukiko the way other boys did, didn't it? She'd never admit it but for a while it had bothered her that he didn't give Yukiko a second look, as if being from the city made him too good for her. A few weeks ago she would have claimed she was offended on Yukiko's behalf but she knew now that it had been all about her, that she'd wanted him to acknowledge Yukiko and admire her for having such a pretty friend.

But that was in the past. Just thinking about how petty she'd been made her want to shrivel up.

Really, the only reason she'd reacted the way she had was because she hadn't been expecting him to admit that out of the blue. And he'd been so casual about it! Didn't most people try to hide stuff like this or at least act more self-conscious? It didn't seem fair that he could do it so easily but she'd thought the same thing when she'd learned he didn't have to face a Shadow to get his Persona either. Maybe they were connected?

Gradually, curiosity took the place of shock. "So, um, are you two together?"

From the look Souji gave her, he hadn't expected her to stay on the topic. Maybe he wouldn't have if the situation had been reversed; he always given the impression that what other people did was none of his business, no matter how much the rest of the town gossiped. He gave no sign that her asking bothered him, though. "No."

"Oh, okay." Of course not, this was Yosuke they were talking about. But if that were true then how did what he suggested make any sense? "Wait, does that means last night would have been...?"

"Well, you have to start somewhere, don't you?"

So he'd picked the campout? Chie's face burned as her imagination went into overdrive.

"Are you picturing it?" Souji asked, amused. "Don't do that, I'm shy."

If it were true, he'd be the one blushing instead of her. Off-balance, she blurted out the first question that came to mind, the one that had really been bugging her. "Why Yosuke?"

Out of all the people Souji could have picked, Yosuke struck her as the worst possible choice. As if his panicking about Kanji and his Shadow wasn't proof enough, Yosuke constantly had girls on the brain. If he wasn't talking about them, he was trying to flirt or make some inappropriate comment. Just last night, he'd asked that stupid question about her and Yukiko, and she'd almost had to block his number before he'd stopped calling her at weird hours to tell dirty jokes.

Even knowing all of this, though, she wished she could take the question back as soon as it was out of her mouth. Unable to hide her disbelief, it came out sounding awful, and she watched as Souji's good humor melted away. He turned away from her, and in the same cool tone he'd used the night before, the one she was starting to realize meant he was in a bad mood, he said, "I'd rather not answer that."

"R-right, I get it! It was a dumb question." She let out a strained, nervous laugh, wishing the ground would swallow her, and weakly added, "Sorry."

"It's not dumb but it is personal."

"Right." The best thing would have been to drop it and wait for things to go back to normal, but now that she'd voiced her doubt Chie found herself unable stop talking. "Are you sure, though? Because you know Yosuke, he's always thinking about girls, and you've seen the way he gets about this kind of stuff. Who knows how he'll take it if you..." She wasn't sure how to put it. "Wouldn't someone like Kanji-kun be better? He's nice."

Souji stared at the pan he was supposed to be cleaning, his hands still. For a second she thought he was going to tell her to shut up but then he shook his head. "Kanji's nice," he agreed, and she was glad to hear he sounded more like his usual self, "but I don't like him."

"And what about Yosuke? How do you know if he likes you?"

Giving up all pretense of cleaning, Souji set the pan down and leaned against the sink. "Yosuke's a good friend," he said. "I know you've known him longer than me and you might not have noticed because you've been so wrapped up in Yukiko lately, but I've been spending a lot of time with him. We're getting to know each other pretty well, and if I honestly thought he wouldn't be okay with this, I'd never mention it. I wouldn't risk losing his friendship, or ruining the team, just because I got greedy."

"You're not greedy for wanting someone to like you," Chie said, but the mention of Yukiko distracted her. "Wait, what does Yukiko have to do with anything?"

"You two are a lot closer since you faced your Shadows. Even Yosuke's noticed."

Were they? Chie guessed they had been spending a lot of time together. It came more naturally now that they weren't trying to hide so many thing from each other, but had she really been so distracted that she hadn't noticed something growing between Souji and Yosuke? It wasn't impossible, not when she'd missed all the feelings Yukiko had been hiding right in front of her, but she couldn't look at Yosuke and match what she knew about him to what Souji was suggesting. Just how much did they talk about when they were alone?

Yosuke caught her eye and scowled. He didn't look very smart doing it, not with soap in his hair. "What did I do now?"

Instead of answering, she stuck her tongue out. It might not have been the most mature response but it felt good to do something that didn't require any thinking.

Yosuke tossed aside the dishtowel he'd been holding and made his way over, pushing between them. "What do you guys keep whispering about over here?"

"Nothing," Chie said. She wasn't about to tell him the truth, and having failed to get an answer out of her, he turned to Souji expectantly.

"It's a secret."

"Come on," Yosuke whined, "that's not fair."

"Maybe if you're good I'll tell you later. You've got soap in your hair, by the way." Souji wiped it for him, a little awkwardly with half his arm still wet, but Yosuke let him and didn't complain. "You should get back over there before we get in trouble."

Yosuke shook his head. "I don't want to go back over there. I can't handle how slow Yukiko is, and on top of that, she's making me wash. My hands are getting all pruny! Just look at them."

"How terrible."

Yosuke either missed Souji's lack of sincerity or chose to ignore it. "I know, right? Chie, go take my place."

"What, why me?"

"You're safe over there, she won't get mad at you if you mess up. She's like a slave driver," he told Souji. "Telling me and Kanji to pick up the pace while she's still on dish number two."

"You can't just trade places because you don't like what you're doing," Souji said. "Besides, Chie and I were talking."

"No, it's fine. Yukiko's probably tired of dealing with him anyway." And getting a few minutes away from Souji and their awkward conversation sounded like a good idea. Still, she didn't want to leave on a sour note, and she hesitated uncertainly. "Hey, Souji-kun, about what I said--"

He cut her off gently. "It's fine."

"Really?" She was tempted to try and clear things up more, to say that she'd only questioned his decision because they were friends and she didn't want to see him be disappointed, but there was no way to phrase it without making Yosuke curious. She wasn't sure she wouldn't end up putting her foot in her mouth again, either.

"Sure. No hard feelings."

Yosuke made an annoyed sound at being left out. "Seriously, what were you two talking about?"

Kanji looked grateful for the extra company when Chie came over and took Yosuke's old spot next to Yukiko, which made her wonder if Yukiko really was acting as badly as Yosuke said. Probably not. The boys were always exaggerating, and Kanji had never been very relaxed around Yukiko. "Hey, guys."

"Hello, Chie." Yukiko glanced at Yosuke, who suddenly became absorbed in drying a plate. "Does Yosuke-kun plan to stay over there?"

"Yeah, you know him. Any hard work and he starts complaining. We might as well let Souji-kun be the one to put up with it." Chie resisted the urge to complain herself. In her haste to get away from Souji, she'd forgotten she'd be stuck on washing duty over here, but there was nothing she could do except suck it up. She wasn't about to ask Yukiko to put her hands in a sink full of gross water.

"At least you're a hard worker," Yukiko told Kanji.

"Someone's gotta be." He looked at the piles of dishes waiting to be dried when he said it and sighed as the point flew over her head. "Come on, Chie-senapi, let's hurry up and knock the rest of these out."

"Right, let's do it!" The good thing about being at this station, Chie discovered, was that it allowed her a good view of Souji and Yosuke. Not that she was interested in spying on them or anything but she'd never really paid much attention to how they acted when they were together, and she couldn't resist peeking at them. Their conversation hadn't ruined Souji's mood; he was smiling as he listened to Yosuke talk. Actually, Souji tended to smile a lot more when he was around Yosuke. Had he always done that? And wasn't it weird, too, that Yosuke, who never missed a chance to take a dig at Kanji, hadn't had any problem with sleeping next to Souji last night?

Abruptly, she realized she was doing the same thing so many other people had done to her and Yukiko over the years: looking at them and wondering how their relationship could possibly work. How often had guys come up to her and asked how they could possibly be friends because she ruined their perfect image of who Yukiko was and how she should behave? They made all these assumptions without knowing what she and Yukiko were really like, and she wasn't going to be one of those people, especially when it came to her friends. If Souji was going to go for it then she'd do her best to cheer him on.

"Is something wrong?" Yukiko asked, breaking her out of her thoughts. "You're awfully quiet."

"What? No, it's nothing." She looked at the dish Yukiko held, which appeared to be the same one from a few minutes ago, and laughed. All those boys who idolized Yukiko would never be able to believe she was so bad at this. "We're not making much progress, are we?"

"I wonder why," Kanji said under his breath.

Yukiko frowned at her dish towel. "I think we were given defective towels. They don't seem absorbent enough."

"That's 'cause you keep dipping the end in the water, Yukiko-senpai."

"Am I?"

"Actually," Chie said, glad they were talking about something simple, "I think we need more soap. We don't have enough bubbles."

Yukiko frowned at the sink. "We don't?"

"Not nearly enough!" She always had a bunch when she did this at home, and more bubbles meant she wouldn't have to see the dirty water she kept putting her hands into. She might not be able to avoid it but at least she could avoid that. "They got us the cheap stuff from Junes, and if we're gonna do this, we're gonna need a lot."

"Alright." Convinced, Yukiko turned another on faucet. "Then we should add more."

Chie popped the top of the economy sized bottle of liquid detergent they'd been given and then, frustrated with the slow flow, unscrewed the lid and held the bottle upside down. It came out in thick, satisfying globs. That was more like it. Kanji watched nervously while Yukiko leaned in to get a better look, intrigued.

"We're going to need more water," Yukiko said, and turned on a third faucet.

Kanji's eyes were beginning to go wide. "Uh, Chie-senpai, I think that's enough."

"No, it's not. Look, barely anything is happening." Their teachers really had skimped out. How were they supposed to get the job done with these lackluster supplies?

"That's because you've got to give it a second, haven't you ever--whoa!"

Attempting to give the bottle an extra squeeze, Chie's hands slipped and the bottle fell into the sink, splashing them all with dirty water. "Sorry! Are you okay, Yukiko?"

Yukiko coughed. "I think some got into my mouth."

"Don't worry about that," Kanji said, wiping his face. "Turn the damn water off!"

"Don't yell at me!" Chie shouted, beginning to panic as the bubbles rose alarmingly. She couldn't understand why there were so many of them. What kind of weird products did Junes sell? "Just give me a second."

All the noise caught Souji and Yosuke's attention. "What's going on over there?" Souji called.

"Nothing!" Chie stuck her hand into the mess, groping around blindly, and came up empty. "It's all under control, I've got--oh no, I can't find the faucet!"

A few minutes later, they stood by and stared at the towering mass of suds that loomed over them. Souji had managed to find and turn off the main water valve but not before most of the sinks had been swallowed up.

"Never seen so many bubbles in my life," Kanji said. He sounded impressed or maybe wistful, like he wanted to go play in them. Chie wasn't sure that was a good idea; if he ventured into that, he might never find his way out.

Yukiko echoed his amazement. "I didn't know dish soap could do that. Maybe we have a different brand at the Inn?"

"Sorry about your hand," Chie said, watching her cradle it gingerly. Yukiko had tried to turn the water off when she failed and ended up scalding herself. "Is it okay? Should we see a teacher?"

"It's not serious, just a little tender." Yukiko ran a finger over it. "I hurt myself worse trying to make lobster."

"You can cook lobster?" Since when? As far as Chie knew, the only time Yukiko had ever cooked anything had been their joint attempt yesterday.

Yukiko blushed and admitted, "Well, no, not yet. It seems so easy when the cooks do it but it's a lot harder then it looks."

A strong wind blew a few bubbles in their directions and the tower learned towards them ominously. They took a few steps back.

Yosuke popped a bubble that landed on his sleeve. "Tell me again how you managed this, Chie."

"It was an accident," she said defensively. It wasn't even that bad, not really. "It could have happened to anyone."

"But it happened to you."

"Nevermind whose fault it is," Kanji said. "What are we supposed to do now? Clean it up? I don't know about you but I don't see any mops laying around."

Predictably, Yosuke was the first to protest. "No way, I've already wasted enough of my day cleaning up after other people. I'm not taking care of this, too."

"I'm with Yosuke," Souji said. Apparently even his easy-going nature had a limit and prospect of spending the next few hours playing janitor went over it. "I think we can safely say we're finished."

Kanji scratched the back of his neck, frowning uncertainly. "So, what, we just leave it?"

"Yup," Souji said, and as if the mess no longer existed, he turned and casually walked away. Yosuke hurried after him, and after a brief moment of hesitation, Kanji shrugged and followed them.

Chie and Yukiko looked at each other and then the sud tower, which seemed to have gotten bigger. "It really was an accident," Chie said, and ridiculousness of the situation was too much for Yukiko, who broke out into her loud, obnoxious laugh, all traces of her earlier bad mood gone. As happy as she was about that, Chie wished she could have held it in longer; a discreet getaway turned out to be a lot harder when one of them was laughing like a hyena.


End file.
